Leslie Phillips: Carry On and Harry Potter actor dies aged 98

Best known for his roles in the Carry On films and his suggestive catchphrases, Leslie Phillips also voiced the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series and worked with a range of stars during a long and varied career in entertainment.

Tuesday 8 November 2022 18:02, UK

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Veteran British actor Leslie Phillips, known for his roles in several Carry On films and the Harry Potter series, has died aged 98.

The star died "peacefully in his sleep" on Monday, his agent Jonathan Lloyd confirmed.

Phillips made his first film appearances as a boy in the 1930s and went on to have an illustrious career on stage and screen, particularly in the Carry On films - which included Carry On Teacher, Carry On Columbus, Carry On Constable and Carry On Nurse.

He became well known for his suggestive catchphrases such as "Ding Dong!", "Well, hello", and "I Say!".

During a long and varied career in entertainment that spanned several decades, the actor worked with a huge range of stars, from Steven Spielberg and Laurence Olivier to Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie.

Although he was known for his plummy accent and exaggerated portrayals of the English upper-class, Phillips was born in Tottenham and grew up speaking estuary English - taking elocution lessons and losing his accent later in life as it was seen as an impediment in the acting industry at the time.

He released his autobiography, Hello, in 2005, detailing how he discovered acting after growing up "in a poverty-stricken childhood in north London" and the death of his father when he was just 10 years old.

Phillips appeared in TV series such as Heartbeat, Midsomer Murders, Monarch Of The Glen and Holby City, films including Empire Of The Sun, Scandal, and Out Of Africa, and plays including Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard.

In 2007, the actor starred in Hanif Kureshi's film Venus alongside Peter O'Toole, a performance for which he was nominated for a BAFTA for best supporting actor.

And in recent years, his voice had become instantly recognisable to younger generations as that of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films.

He was made an OBE in the 1998 Birthday Honours and was promoted to CBE in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Born Leslie Samuel Phillips on 20 April 1924, the actor learned his craft at the respected Italia Conti Stage School before serving as a lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry between 1942 and 1945, when he was invalided out.

Afterwards, he was soon back in the limelight and the Carry On Films came in the 1950s and 60s - cementing his reputation for playing smooth and roguish but incompetent members of high society.

Films such as Brothers In Law, The Smallest Show On Earth and The Man Who Liked Funerals followed and he also became well known for his appearances in the Doctor series, as well as comedies in which he was paired with Scottish comedian and impressionist Stanley Baxter - including Very Important Person, Crooks Anonymous, The Fast Lady and Father Came Too.

Like most of his contemporaries, he pursued a stint in Hollywood, but said he preferred Britain.

"I could have stayed," he said once, "but I am a Londoner through and through. I want to go everywhere, but I will always want to live in London. So I came back."

'His stories were like a tour of the golden age of British cinema' - actress Kerrie Taylor

I first learned of Leslie Phillips' death while out shopping in Ealing. While all the studio filming of the Carry On films took place at Pinewood, Ealing was the location for Carry On Constable. The story goes that Leslie had fallen about laughing when, while dressed as a policeman, Kenneth Williams held up the Ealing traffic and then proceeded to pee in the middle of the street.

It was my great fortune to live on a diet of these kinds of stories, when for a couple of weeks I had the privilege of working with Leslie. After years of my then boyfriend (now husband) watching the entire box set of Chancer, at the very least biannually, I found out I was to play the interfering nurse to his dying widower in the ITV series Where The Heart Is.

I'm not saying that my working with one of his heroes is why my husband married me, but it's in there. And Leslie did not disappoint - he was not, as they say, a hard stitch to pull for a yarn. Daily, from the make-up truck to the journey home, I would turn on the tap and ask for more and more stories.

He was such an extraordinary raconteur, so funny and generous and no-holds barred it was like a a tour through the golden age of British cinema, perhaps in an open top car, most likely with Terry Thomas along for the ride.

He'd been born in Tottenham and only acquired the plummy tones that gave the impression of a silver spoon at Italia Conti stage school years later. He knew what it was to be poor, and when I asked his advice on our volatile profession he told me to buy "good stuff" when working and to never sell anything. He said he'd bought a Rolls Royce, a house in London's Maida Vale, and a villa in Ibiza in his early years of success and he still had all of them. Oh, the villa in Ibiza; the stories from there, well...

But when we arrived on set, he was the consummate professional. My job with him was not the slapstick fun he became best known for, but the sad story of a man mourning the loss of his wife, and seemingly choosing to let go to join her. As my busybody nurse knelt at his feet he stared blankly into my eyes for what seemed an impossible length of time as the life slipped out of him; it really was a beautiful performance I'll always remember.

But as soon as the director called cut, the imp started dancing in his eyes again and without missing a beat his silky voice told me: "Darling, has anyone ever told you, you have the most beautiful eyes?" And 30-year-old, serious feminist me, giggled and blushed like a 16-year-old at her first dance. RIP Leslie, you were, a joy.

Stars pay tribute

Following the news of his death, stars who worked with him and met him were among those paying tribute.

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar shared a clip of Phillips appearing on his show The Kumars At No 42. In the footage, Phillips recalled how he once found himself stuck on the London Underground surrounded by members of the public demanding he do his catchphrases.

"A truly warm, funny and gentle man #RIPLesliePhillips," Bhaskar wrote.

Coronation Street actor Tony Maudsley said working with Phillips "was a joy".

Phillips' first marriage, to Penelope Bartley in 1948, was dissolved in 1965. They had two sons and two daughters.

He married his second wife Angela Scoular in 1982 and the couple remained together until her death in April 2011.

He leaves behind his third wife, Zara Carr, whom he married in 2013.

Leslie Phillips: Carry On and Harry Potter actor dies aged 98

'His stories were like a tour of the golden age of British cinema' - actress Kerrie Taylor

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